Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelSunnyside resident Ali Alsaede with a photo of the site where his cousin was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Sunnyside resident Ali Alsaede warned his cousin about the dangers of Afghanistan where he worked as a private trucking contractor for the U.S. military. Sunnyside resident Ali Alsaede talks to the Advance about his cousin, who was killed by a roadside bomb near a U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

"I told him it's crazy, you're wasting your time there," said Alsaede, 42, referring to a conversation he had last year with Musa Qaid Alsaydi. "But he said, 'I got a lot of opportunities here, and we're too far away' from the danger zones."

Alsaydi planned to marry his fiancee and build her a big house in his native Yemen. He also wanted to form his own security firm in Afghanistan.

But a roadside bomb snuffed out those dreams in a tragedy a hired security company should have prevented, according to a $500 million federal lawsuit recently filed by Alsaydi's father, Qaid Alsaydi, also a Sunnyside resident.

Six days after his 27th birthday, the younger Alsaydi was killed on Aug. 15, 2009 when an explosive device blew up the Jeep in which he was riding. The blast occurred about 16 miles south of a U.S. military base in Bagram.

The wrongful-death action is filed in Manhattan federal court. Qaid Alsaydi, 74, is the administrator of his son's estate.

The lawsuit accuses Four Horsemen Industries of failing to protect the victim.

Musa Qaid Alsaydi was a principal in Three Bullets Incorporated, an Afghanistan-based company which contracted to move supplies for U.S. military operations in the war-torn country.

The U.S.-based Four Horsemen was hired to provide security for Three Bullets personnel and protect them from "the Taliban, bandits and criminal elements," said court papers.

The suit alleges that Four Horsemen's clients are subjected to a "higher rate of attack compared to other security firms operating in the same area." It further claims the company is "notorious for its strong-arm tactics, personal threats and corruption" while carrying out its contractual duties in Afghanistan.

Also named as defendants are Three Bullets, a company principal, Four Horsemen's president and two other individuals.

Qaid Alsaydi alleges Three Bullets has denied his son's estate the rightful money the victim was owed from the business.

According to published reports, the giant U.S.-run Bagram Air Base has been the target of insurgent attacks. In May, an American contractor was killed and nine NATO soldiers wounded in a brazen pre-dawn assault, according to USA Today.

Alsaede said his cousin emigrated from Yemen when he was 10 years old.

He lived in Brooklyn and went to work five or six years ago in Afghanistan with some friends whose family owned a trucking firm there.

Despite the danger, Musa Qaid Alsaydi prospered to the point where he became a principal in another company, Three Bullets, in early 2008. His trucking experience helped his new business to secure the U.S. government contract, said court papers. The contract is valued at about $50 million a year.

Alsaydi got engaged and planned to erect a luxurious home for his bride-to-be in Yemen. Alsaede said his cousin intended to spend a few months a year in his native land, visit Staten Island once or twice and run his Afghan trucking firm the rest of the year.

He also wanted to start his own security company in Afghanistan.

"He was a sweet guy, easy-going, loving," said Alsaede, a Clove Lake Civic Association member who owns businesses in Brooklyn.

Four Horsemen International, the parent company of Four Horsemen Industries, did not immediately return telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.